A new year – time to look forward. But everyone is looking back. We cannot plan the way forward unless we know where we are coming from.

2018 has been a landmark year for me. There can’t be a much bigger event than publishing your first novel. That was back in January. It seems like a long time ago: the excitement of seeing copies of my book for the first time, practicing my signature for the first signing and that freezing day of the launch. I have learned a lot and done a lot more writing, and rewriting, and editing. I will publish my second book this year, perhaps my third as well. More about all that another time.

For this post I thought about writing about the books I have read in 2018 – put together a top five, or ten. But I couldn’t remember what I read last year. Was that book last year, or the one before? The ones I remember are the ones I have written about here – or planned to write about, but never got around to it. So I have made a resolution – I will make a list of every book I read in 2019, together with notes and a rating. I hope it will result in more reviews here and elsewhere.

So no top ten books this year. What else can I review? What about this blog? Behind these pages, WordPress provides me with a whole load of statistics. What was my most successful post? Since I am planning on a little light housekeeping, it seems like a good idea to find out what works and what doesn’t.

This blog started on the 9th August 2015, just before the anniversary of the death of Byrhtnoth. This enabled me to introduce my character and write about the Battle of Maldon. I have written 119 posts since then, an average of just under three a month – better than I expected! I have had 5,430 views and my most successful post was on the 25th September a review of King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett. It got retweeted by the Dorothy Dunnett Society (@DunnettCentral) which produced 190 views.

But this is a review of 2018. What have been the most popular posts this year?

Coming top, with 98 views is “How do you pronounce that?” Published on 22nd Jan 2018, it is about my problems with finding the correct pronunciation of Byrhtnoth. Not a particularly enthralling subject for the general public. Why has it had so many hits? Is it the title?

Third comes a post from November 2015: The Last Kingdom – Book v Television has had 50 views this year. It is also the second all time favourite. I think it gets noticed whenever the TV program is shown.

Fourth place this year (34 views) goes to “Do you need a Structural Edit?” Something that is of interest to all writers. Giving my current editor a rave review helped to publicise that one.

In joint fifth place, on 27 views each is a post “With Aethelflaed in Tamworth” a report of an event about The Lady of Mercia – talks and books for sale, which was promoted by the organisers (and participants, thank you). With the same number of views came one of a series of five posts about a holiday in Orkney and Shetland. Why was number three more popular than the others?

What have I learned from this exercise? It helps to write about someone or something with a high profile and tell them you have posted. The other is to ask a question. I will have to give this a lot of thought. Of course, I could always ask you, my readers.

I don’t know why I never read any of Dorothy Dunnett’s books. I was aware of her as an author – I had noticed a set of books set in 15th century Italy, but it was not a period that interested me. It was only once I started to write myself, and take notice of what other authors thought, that I realised that many writers of historical fiction revered her. I wanted to find out why.

Two years ago I bought a copy of King Hereafter. I started reading and knew that this was something special. It is a long book, over 700 pages, and I was busy. I wanted time to savour it, so I put it to one side. Recently I came back to it and last night I got to the end. I am still held in its spell and want to get down my thoughts while they are fresh.

For those who have never read it, this is the story of Macbeth, but not Shakespeare’s Macbeth. This is the real man, Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney, who might have become King of Scotland, if Scotland had existed at that time. Because of him, it nearly did. It is the story of one man’s life, but also the story of a whole world.

The Macbeth we think we know is set in Scotland, a country north of England. This book opens out to reveal the whole world; of the interconnections between countries when borders were fluid, of families connected by blood and marriage, where who you married was sometimes more important than who your father was and cousins could be friends or enemies depending on circumstances.

Thorfinn is sent to England, to the court of King Canute and his wife Emma, who controls events like a spider in a web. He meets Earl Leofric of Mercia, and his wife Godiva (who had ever considered that Macbeth probably met Lady Godiva?). Thorfinn is an heir to Orkney, he must fight for his share. Later, he gains Alba, by battle and keeps it by marriage to the widow of the previous king. It becomes a great love story.

Movement is central to the story. The action moves, with Thorfinn, not just across Scotland and the isles, but to Norway and Denmark. There is a long journey to Rome to meet the Pope. Always Thorfinn, plans, makes alliances. It is only towards the end of this trip that you realise that one reason for the journey is to bind together the young men who will be the leaders of the future, the heir of his ideas, if not his body.

The book is about religion. Not just the conflict between Christian and Pagan, but the different branches of the church. It is important that the bishop that controls your priests, is consecrated by the right person, for whichever king controls him has power over you, and your country.

I was astounded by the authors breadth of knowledge, how could she know so much about the period. I had occasion to look up some fact (I think it was the date the “historical” Macbeth died.) and found that there are little known facts about his life. In fact, the merging of the characters Torfinn of Orkney and Macbeth the king is only speculation. But the world she has created, is so real that you believe it happened as she tells it, or if it didn’t, it should have. It explains so well the state of the world in the mid-eleventh century, the rise of Harold Godwinson in England, the battles of William for possession of Normandy, the arrival of that other Harold from the east, to take over the throne of Norway. Men who would meet a few years later, in 1066, to decide the direction history would take.

But enough of history. If all the characters were fantasy, it would still be worth reading, so beautifully is it written. There are great set pieces; The firing of the hall at Ophir where Thorfinn and his wife nearly die and the storm, again on Orkney which acts as the trigger for the final downfall.

And the battle which ends at Dunsinane, four chapters, sixty odd pages of frantic action, fighting, riding across the landscape of Scotland, moments, only moments, of rest. The plot twists, from success to failure and back, as allegiances change or fade away, there is bluff and double bluff, treachery on every side. But still, there is time for beauty. From page 616, but I could have picked an example from almost any page. Siward waits outside Dunsinane:

Above, the sky hung, changing colour like fine China silk, with homing birds on its surface like powder. Here, emptied by space of all texture, men’s voices spoke and called and were thrown back from hill to hill, as every channel glinted with spears and with acorn helmets of dulled steel or leather and shields like shells on a necklace. Behind, when he twisted round, he saw that the black smoke obscuring the sun had been joined by another burst, this time of pure flame, rising over the river. He said, “It looks as if Perth has gone…”

It then continues, for a page with practical discussion on when to attack. The section ends:

Ligulf was smiling. The black moustaches opened like pincers. “No indeed,” Ligulf said. “So what were you thinking of?And smiled all the time that he listened, so that Siward thought the moustache-ends would be hooked on his ears.

I could quote much more, but I haven’t the time, or space.

I was dreading the end. I knew there would be death. The death of a man I had come to love. A man who had started with nothing, achieved so much with his strength and intelligence and lost it through forces he was unable to control. I delayed the last few pages, until I was alone. I knew I would cry, I am close to tears now.

The ending was heartrending, but magnificent, the only way it could end. A man must die but his memory lives on.

A quote from near the end, Thorfinn and his stepson Lulach, who sees things.

“What am I thinking? I was wondering,” said Thorfinn slowly, “what story the river will carry of me?”Lulach smiled his sweet smile, and his swan-white hair shone in the sunshine. “So many stories,” he said, “that a thousand years from today, every name from this world will have faded save those of yourself and your lady. That is immortality.”

I do not just cry for the death of a man. I cry because I now know that this is the sort of book I want to write – and I know I never shall.

A book like this takes great talent and a lifetime of writing. It is too late for me. If I had read this earlier, would I have started writing earlier, or is it only now that I know a little about writing that I can appreciate it?

This was the day I had been looking forward to, the trip to the Heart of Neolithic Orkney, including the world heritage sites of Maeshowe and Skara Brae and the Standing Stones of Brodgar and Stenness. These were the sites I had read about and seen on television. They were on my “must see” list of places to visit. I had already had one disappointment when we were told that the Ness of Brodgar excavations had not started yet and everything was still covered up for the winter. Never mind, there was plenty of other things to see, and it is the complete ritual landscape that is important.

First view of Maeshowe from the coach. Excitement builds.

It was not a good start, we were too early for the Maeshowe visitor centre, or they weren’t ready for us, so we went to the Standing Stones of Stenness first. It was perfect weather to view these tall stones (unless it is winter with dark skies and snow on the ground!)

Alan adds a sense of scale to the stones.

Stenness Stones. Tall but very thin. How did they get them there without breaking them?

Stenness Stones. Looking for alignments – surely those distant hills on Hoy are significant? Don’t know about the coach.

Looking in the opposite direction, towards Maeshowe. Another dip in the hills! The mound was visible from some parts of the circle but not others.

Distant view of the Ring of Brodgar from Stones of Stenness.

Rather than continuing across the causeway to Brodgar, we returned to the Maeshowe visitor centre, where we moved to smaller coaches and picked up guides. It was a short drive and then a walk along a path through the fields to Maeshowe itself.

Walking towards Maeshowe.

Coming through the tunnel…

…and leaving again.

I am sorry I have no pictures of the interior of Maeshowe, but photography was forbidden. Maeshowe is a megalithic chambered tomb, similar to the Tomb of the Eagles, that we had already visited, but bigger and with no skulls. It is famous for its mid-winter alignment when the setting sun shines along the passageway to light up the interior. When the tomb was opened, in 1861, the entrance was invisible, so it was entered by the top. The roof is a Victorian replacement, not nearly as accomplished as the original must have been. In earlier times, it must have been open as, in 1153, a group of Vikings took shelter there from a snow storm. Bored, they carved runes onto some of the stones in the chamber. It is now one of the biggest collection of runes in Europe.

Our guide was very knowledgeable, but was obviously under instructions to increase income for the visitor centre. As you would expect, someone asked what the runes said. We were told, “It’s in the guide-book.” I have checked the entry price. It is £6 for an adult; not bad for a short coach trip and a guided tour. I suppose they need to raise more money somehow, but, together with the prohibition of photography, it left a bad taste in the mouth.

After a stop in the shop (we did buy the book) it was back onto our coach. As we crossed the Ness of Brodgar, I looked out for the archaeological site. I glimpsed a farmyard with a pile of tyres, so I suppose that was it. We were soon out of the coach again and walking up a path to the Ring of Brodgar. This was a spectacular site, on a sloping site. As you approach it, the view beyond is invisible. It seems the whole landscape had been manipulated, to hide and reveal different aspects at the correct time in whatever ritual was being performed. I would love to know how, and why, it was used. Like the stone circle we had seen on the first day and Stonehenge and Avebury, it probably meant different things at different periods. Religion must have changed drastically over five thousand years plus.

Like Avebury, the Ring of Brodgar is large, too large to photograph properly. The problem was made worse by the fact that part of it was roped off for conservation. That is the problem with popular sites. Too many visitors can destroy a place which they want to see because it is so special.

Approaching the Ring of Brodgar, through a field of dandelion clocks – literally walking through time.

Fencing around part of the Ring of Brodgar, plus another mound – and that view of the horizon.

View of ditch, stones and the loch behind.

Getting close to the stones – the urge to touch.

We were told there were runes carved on one of the stones. One of our party found them – would you have seen them?

View from the top of a small mound, just outside the ring of stones.

We made our way back to the coach and the trip to the last ancient site we were to visit today, Scara Brae. We first spent time in the visitor centre – most of us in the cafe, for a much needed lunch. We then wandered outside to explore a modern re-construction of one of the houses we were about to see.

Reconstruction of Scara Brae house – a maze of tunnels led to one house.

Entrance to the house

Inside the house, with hearth, beds and “dresser”

The reconstruction was a good idea. You could see everything from ground level, imagine sitting round the hearth on winter evenings. I discovered that the edge of the beds was just the right height to sit on. Apparently, when the reconstruction was built, the passages were made taller and wider than the originals – modern people are larger (or less nimble) that the inhabitants of the neolithic age.

Finally we were allowed to see the original, from above. The village was inhabited for at least 600 years, starting around 3000BC, so older houses went out of use, or were replaced by later ones. Then there was a sudden catastrophe. The whole site was covered in sand and never used again.

An early house. You can tell by the position of the beds, inset into the walls.

View showing position of the village, close to the beach.

Looking into one of the later houses. Note same arrangement as in reconstruction – dresser always faces the door!

Looking across the site towards Skaill House.

We didn’t have much time (about 10 minutes) to visit Skaill House, home of the local Laird, which was included in the entrance price. An interesting house, I would have liked to have spent longer there. It was back into the coach to visit another old house, not as old as Scara Brae, but perhaps older than Skaill house, although lived in until comparatively recently.

Corrigall Farm Museum was an addition to the schedule. It is a traditional ‘but and ben’ house that portrays a typical Orkney farmhouse and steading in the late 19th century. While we had been at Scara Brae we had been told to think about all the perishable objects that would have been found in the houses – wooden tools, woven baskets etc. This was an opportunity to see, in situ, all the possessions of a Victorian farm would have in their house. A lot less than we would own nowadays but not that different to a prehistoric farmer facing the same problems of daily life.

Corrigall Farm Museum. The farmhouse at the back, barns in front. Note the stone slabs roofs.

Inside the farmhouse.

Ancient mousetrap – wood and stone and highly lethal.

Our driver, John, surveying the farmyard.

It was here that the first of our group left. An American couple were due to fly back to Shetland, to join another tour – birds this time – I hope they saw some puffins. John was very helpful, arranging a taxi to pick them up at the farm. He also gave them a lot of advise on places to visit later in their holiday. I’m sure it was beyond his job description but was greatly appreciated by our foreign visitors.

For the rest of us, the day was not yet over. We made a brief stop in Stromness, for tea or coffee. We had a walk along the main street. There was a strange atmosphere, quiet but busy, if you know what I mean. We stared seeing people carrying musical instruments It was the start of the Orkney Folk Festival held at the end of May each year. By the time we got on the coach again, singing was coming from outside a nearby pub.

Stromness harbour

Houses in the quiet part of town

Folk music in Stromness

On our way back to Kirkwall, we stopped at the cliffs at Yesnaby I don’t know if we were looking for puffins again, I don’t think so, there was no soil, only bare rock and a strong wind. Very dramatic.

Rocks

More rocks. No birds.

Dramatic photo of dramatic photographer, but no birds!

Finally there was the long trip back to Kirkwall, where we were to have dinner at the Ayre Hotel. It was a jolly event; the whole group on one long table – much better than the small tables we had experienced at other meals. Then it was back onto the coach for the short trip to the ferry. It was the same one we had arrived on two days before. There was a bit of a wait in the terminal, then we were onboard. After such a busy day, most of us went straight to our cabins.

Sunset from the Kirkwall ferry terminal.

We awoke next morning, back in Aberdeen. Some of the party left from there, others were dropped off at the airport, but the final few of us made the trip back to Edinburgh. Our car was still in the hotel car park, so we packed our luggage into the boot, and left. We had booked a few days in Yorkshire before the final trip home, but that will have to be described another time (perhaps)

So. how was the holiday? Was it up to expectations? Definitely. We saw places we expected to see and some we didn’t. There are many places that when they appear on TV history programs we can say “We were there.”

It was not a relaxing holiday, but we didn’t expect that. So much to see in only six days. It was very well organised, we always arrived when and where expected. Even the weather was good!

The other travellers were friendly and none caused problems, no-one was late at getting to the coach, in fact sometimes we left early.

Many thanks are due to Alan and John, who hadn’t met before the coach arrived in Edinburgh. They melded into an entertaining and informative team.

Thank you Brightwater Holidays for organising the trip. If you are interested in archaeology and/or Orkney and Shetland, I would recommend it highly. Just don’t expect it to be relaxing. But who wants to sit on a beach all day?

I hope you have enjoyed this series of posts. It will now be back to business. I haven’t had a chance to write properly for ages, but I have some exciting news to report very soon.

After out late night arrival at the Kirkwall Hotel, we were up bright and early next morning and heading south. It seems to be an indication of how far north we were that a lot of the time we were travelling south.

First stop today was the Churchill Barriers, created after the sinking of HMS Royal Oak in October 1939. Ships have been using the sheltered waters of Scapa Flow since man first learned to sail. Vikings anchored their ships there, but it became most famous as a naval base in WW1 and WW2. After their defeat in WW1 the German fleet was interned there pending a decision on their future and in 1919 the German officer in command gave the order to scuttle the fleet. 52 ships were sunk. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s many of the ships were raised for salvage. In WW2 Spapa Flow again became Britain’s main naval base, but when a German submarine the U-47, commanded by Günther Prien managed to penetrate the bay and torpedo HMS Royal Oak, with the loss of 833 men, it was decided to block the entrances. A series of causeways were built, connecting several islands and providing the main road to South Ronaldway.

View from coach on one of the Churchill Barriers of (partially) sunken ship.

Just over the first of the barriers, we stopped to visit the Italian Chapel. This was built by Italians at a prisoner of war camp set up to help build the barriers. They asked permission to build a chapel, which they did using two Nissen huts. All the work was done by the prisoners themselves, using materials “found” around the camp. It is interesting to consider that at a time when British POWs were using their ingenuity to escape captivity, Italians in the same position were creating a thing of beauty.

View of Churchill Barrier and Italian Chapel

Italian Chapel

Italian Chapel, interior

Italian Chapel, screen

Italian Chapel, altar

We then continued south, across the barriers. At this point, I should mention that all the roads were well maintained and there was little traffic. Although we did encounter one traffic jam.

Orkney traffic jam.

At what seemed like the end of the road, we arrived at the Tomb of the Eagles or the Isbister Chambered Cairn. The tomb dates from about 3,000 years BC and was found by farmer Ronnie Simison in 1958. There is an excellent display at the farm and we were given talks on the history of the area by members of the family. I real “hands on” experience as objects were handed round. Then came the bracing one mile walk to the tomb. I had seen the tomb before, on television (I’m sure I remember Neil Oliver pulling himself inside on a little trolley) but nothing prepares you for the actual experience. I had imagined the tomb to be in the middle of a field , when in fact it is close to the edge of a very dramatic cliff. No wonder so many sea eagle bones were found mixed with the human bones. They must have been a common sight in the area at the time the tomb was in use. And no-one used the trolley!

The queue for the tomb.

Who wants the trolley?

Coming through!

Inside the Tomb of the Eagles. All the side chambers were empty…

…except one!

Back to the land of the living.

Walking back along the cliffs. If the rabbits were this size, how big were the eagles?

Back on the coach, it was a short drive to St Margaret’s Hope, for lunch etc. We sat and had an (Orkney) ice cream overlooking the harbour, before we returned to Kirkwall.

Bishop’s Palace, interior. There are steps to the top of that ruined looking tower. Good views of the cathedral and town – if you can open your eyes!

Dinner that night was at the hotel and afterwards we had a walk beside the harbour.

Kirkwall Hotel, bathed in evening light.

The view from our window.

Two nights in one place! We had nearly manged to settle in, but suitcases had to be out the following morning (we braved the lift!). We had another day in Shetland, the highlight of our tour, but it was nearing the end.

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Book 2 of the Byrhtnoth Chronicles

Publication of Bright AxeApril 11th, 2019

21days to go.

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